Kylian Mbappe fired Real Madrid back to the top of La Liga as he scored twice in a comeback victory at Villarreal.

Juan Foyth opened the scoring for the hosts but two Mbappe strikes in six first-half minutes earned the points for Madrid.

It puts Los Blancos three points clear of previous leaders Barcelona, who visit third-placed Atletico Madrid on Sunday night.

Villarreal remain fifth in La Liga, five points off the Champions League qualification places after back-to-back league defeats.

They started the stronger, with top scorer Ayoze Perez twice denied by Thibaut Courtois in the opening seven minutes.

After Courtois tipped a low curling Perez effort behind, Villarreal scored from the resulting corner when captain Foyth slammed home amid a goalmouth scramble.

This sparked Madrid and Mbappe into life and they equalised 10 minutes later.

Mbappe played a through ball to Brahim Diaz and, when his shot was saved by Diego Conde, the Frenchman was on hand to score the rebound.

After netting, Mbappe ran straight back to the centre-circle without celebrating. He meant business and showed it again on 23 minutes.

Following a cutback from the byline, Mbappe was given too much space on the edge of the Villarreal box and used it to curl a shot unstoppably past Conde.

It moves Mbappe to 20 league goals this season, just one behind La Liga top scorer Robert Lewandowski.

Having endured a tough start to life in Madrid, Mbappe has firmly found his feet and will be essential to Real's push for both La Liga and Champions League success.

He took centre stage here, with usual attacking partner Vinicius Junior starting on the bench following a below-par showing against Atletico in midweek.

Villarreal did push Madrid hard in a fixture which ended 4-4 last season and proved entertaining again here.

Courtois had to go full stretch shortly before half-time to keep out a long-range effort from Nicholas Pepe and again to deny Alex Baena after the break.

After the game, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti expressed his fury at the lack of rest following their Champions League marathon against Atletico on Wednesday.

Madrid played three days after beating their city rivals on penalties following 120 minutes of action at Wanda Metropolitano.

Ancelotti said Real would refuse to play any further games with less than three days between them.

After the victory at El Madrigal, Ancelotti said: "We held our own physically. In the second half the team was exhausted but that was normal. This victory speaks volumes about the team and the resources this squad has.

"This is the last time we'll play a game without 72 hours of rest. We asked La Liga to change it twice and nothing happened."

The win at Villarreal took place 66 hours after Madrid set up a Champions League quarter-final with Arsenal by beating Atletico.

In 2023, Fifa recommended a minimum compulsory rest period of 72 hours between games, which Madrid have invoked in their protest to La Liga.